People Like Her

You notice people like her.
You know what I mean – by how a particular person acts or how they react to situations, you realize without them having to explain to you, what is motivating them.

Several years ago, the church I was serving was having its Stewardship Dedication Sunday. That’s what we’re doing at Grace Covenant this Sunday, November 8. These Sundays normally follow a certain pattern: folks came forward singing a hymn and placed their offering and pledges in a basket. I noticed when this young woman came forward…she looked so joyful, so free. Later I asked her what was going on with her as she did that.

She said: “In the 1930's, my Mom lived in a large house west of town with her parents, siblings and her Aunt. Her father took odd jobs wherever he could find them, and her Aunt worked for the railroad as a secretary. They rented out rooms in the house for extra income. As many as 10 people could be living in the house, with one bathroom. Things were tough. There was no money, no privacy and no relief in sight. But they had a home. They had food. They knew, as trying as the times were for them, they had a lot.
“My Grandmother and Great Aunt would hand out sandwiches to anyone passing by in the alley behind the house on their way to look for work. No questions asked. No judgment. Everyone was hurting. Everyone was hungry. There was not much thought wondering if they should do this, they just did it.
“That's what I grew up with. It's the unspoken language of service. Stop talking about what you are going to do. Don't tell me your plans. Show me. Go into the world and do what you can with what you have and that will be enough.”

For me, that more than explained the freedom I noticed in her.
It more than explained the joy.

Saints and Stewardship

I find hope and support in the fact that All Saints’ Day falls in the middle of our annual stewardship emphasis. It’s not that I think saints are those who “paid their way into sainthood” with extravagant gifts. I see the saints of our lives—those who are “famous” and those who are known only to us—who lived their life with God in open and generous ways. Saints are those who lived life all out—loving, serving, giving, helping, befriending as if there was no tomorrow. Saints are those who devoted themselves to standing for justice and seeking peace as if tomorrow mattered in urgent and vital ways. Saints are those who lived a life with money and possessions that ranged from rich to poor, from well-off to struggling, but regardless of where they existed within that spectrum, they never forgot—not for one day—that life is a gift from God, and everything we have is a gift from God.

So we celebrate All Saints’ Day and we look toward stewardship. Stewardship can be a hard thing. Especially the way the economy struggles, stewardship can seem like such a challenge. The good thing—the best thing, really—is that we have models to help us along the way. You could even say that we are surrounded by a cloud of witness who are supporting us and cheering us on as we live completely and fully as God’s, cherishing every day and everything as a gift.

Purpose

Yesterday in worship, our liturgist Bill Rupp, led us in this prayer of dedication for our offering:
“Lord, these gifts we bring are not payment for services rendered. They are not dues for being part of this church. We know that you have made us with a purpose and we now freely give in our personal response to that purpose. Continue to work your purpose through us. Make us your hands, outstretched on purpose. Amen”

It really struck me that this is exactly what stewardship is all about. Of course the church needs money to operate and do all the things we are trying to do, but it’s really all about PURPOSE. God’s purpose. Our purpose serving God. We’re not trying to earn anything here. It’s about how we can serve.

Saints

Without a doubt, All Saints’ Day is one of the most important days for me in the church. It’s a day to remember those who have gone before us and showed us what means to live out a life of faith. From notable people known by many – Dorothy Day, Flannery O’Connor, Dietrich Bonheoffer – to those who were simply saints to me – Louis, Sybil, Ruby Nell – I think we all have people to whom we owe a deep debt. These are the people who by their public acts or private kindness showed us a live with integrity and grace in God’s world.

Frederick Buechner calls saints “handkerchiefs” that God drops in God’s continual wooing of the world. Graham Greene, in his novel The Power and The Glory, tells of a feeble priest in Mexico who goes terribly wrong with his life, only to realize at the end that the “only things that matters in all of life…is to be a saint.”

This Sunday, we will gather for worship. We will read the names of those in our church who have died in the past year. We will give thanks. We will gather around the communion table to receive the nourishment we need from God to continue on our own paths toward sainthood.

Mark Ramsey

More Motivation

What motivates you in your life?
Companies have made lots of money producing those posters which show Olympic athletes, mountain ranges, and soaring birds to motivate people to excellence. Likewise, bumper stickers have a whole enterprise built around motivation. (“Make it happen!” one announced to me at a stoplight last week. I also saw one, “My ferret can eat your honor student” though I’m not exactly sure what that is supposed to motivate.)
But deeper than that, what motivates you in your life to do or be anything significant? Jesus came to Jericho one day and encounters Bartimaeus, “a blind beggar” who wants Jesus to heal him. It may seem obvious what Bartimaeus wanted and what motivated him to seek out Jesus, but the more I read our text for this Sunday--Mark 10:46-52--the less obvious the real motivation becomes.
We’re tying motivation to stewardship this year—what motivates us to give. Motivation, however, goes to many places in our life, including stewardship. In fact, stewardship in church is about money to be sure, but it also goes to many different places in our lives.
What motivates you in your life?

Motivation

"What's your Mo(tivation)?" is the theme for stewardship/annual giving this year.  I'll be preaching on that on Sunday October 25.  So, what most motivates you to do the important things you undertake in your life?

Is hope a motivator?
How about fear?
Loyalty?

What most motivates you?

New Web Site

We're launching a new web site for the church early next week, probably Tuesday.  It will be updated often so it should be worth using regularly:  www.gcpcusa.org